PREOCCUPATIONS; Traditional Jobs, Modern Mind-Sets

By MICHAEL A. COSTONIS and ROB SALKOWITZ

Published: June 13, 2010

SINCE 2008, the global economy has been reeling from the one-two punch of a major financial crisis and a sharp worldwide recession. Unemployment remains high, and employers are extremely cautious about committing to new hires.

This environment masks a major shift in the global work force, one that threatens the viability of many established industries. To put it bluntly, the Western world is aging -- quickly -- and the skills of this aging work force are not being passed along to a new generation of workers. The number of skilled jobs is already starting to overtake the number of qualified people available to fill them.

This is especially true in labor-intensive, nonglamorous industries like insurance. By some estimates, more than 50 percent of life insurance agents in the United States are older than 45, and almost 70 percent of claims adjusters are at least 45.

The insurance industry is not particularly attractive to the so-called ''millennials'' -- people who turned 21 in 2000 or later. And many other industries, including transportation, utilities and manufacturing, face a similar problem.

Beyond the fact that the industries themselves may lack appeal as career options, it is easy for senior managers -- often people in their 50s and 60s who built their careers in a pre-Internet world -- to misunderstand what the millennials want.

Younger workers seek different rewards and different work environments. And companies, if they want to thrive in the long term, need to adapt their cultures accordingly.

Like many older industries, insurance uses an apprentice structure, with a long learning curve and slow promotions for adjusters and underwriters. This does not fit the millennial expectation of rapid feedback, flat organizational structure and dynamic career development.

Young workers grew up in a digital culture distinguished by near-immediate sharing of information. They tend to be collaborative and team-oriented, even when they aren't technology experts. They grew up multitasking and don't see the sharp delineations between ''work'' and ''leisure'' that previous generations did. Millennials often prize freedom, innovation and speed over security and stability. They seek flexibility in work schedules and work locations.

Most of all, young workers take access to technology for granted -- as a way to get information, keep track of friends, schedule activities and do their work. And, of course, this access has now gone mobile, via wireless connections and smartphones.

Newer technology also creates a more networked and less hierarchical workplace. Work is distributed across more people in more places, with virtual teams communicating more or less instantly.

Keep in mind, too, that younger workers grew up with technology as consumers, not as employees. They encountered technologies like instant-messaging, blogging, social networks, mashups and RSS feeds long before they saw them at work.

Only a few years ago, most of the technology used in business was developed by commercial software makers, and corporate I.T. departments took responsibility for development and training. ''Ordinary'' people didn't use Lotus Notes or PeopleSoft outside the office.

It's not surprising, then, that younger people coming to a corporate environment may not find the level of connectedness to which they are accustomed.

Managers in ''old fashioned'' industries like insurance walk a fine line. They must balance concerns about security, productivity and privacy against the technological needs of the younger work force.

The age gap in technology cuts both ways. The transparent and kaleidoscopic qualities of the modern information environment can be profoundly unsettling to mature workers comfortable with a more linear work style. All organizations must balance the needs and expectations of these contrasting types of workers.

INSURANCE and other traditional industries may be a less-than-ideal fit for American-born millennials, but globally, there are nearly 3.5 billion people under 30, and gaining access to them via technology is becoming easier every day. The future of insurance resides in this young world of new talent.

The challenge is to find ways to bridge the gap so employers can tap into the benefits of the next-generation work force while maintaining the cultural continuity and valuable experience that older workers contribute.

An important first step is for managers to encourage communication between their information technology and human resources departments. Working together, they need to come up with cohesive approaches for hiring an enthusiastic, technology-savvy younger generation.